2018 Free Dining Watch Thread V3

[BabybetterDisney]

So did everyone get what they wanted?

Yes we did! Pop 9/2 to 9/16! Super wonderful, thanks you so much!

 

[Kelli Pooh]

Wow so I just was able to update my reservation with FD and the price went up by $700. Are they insane? I'll just pay OOP for my dining if that is the case.

Yeah I am trying to solve this same problem. Went up $1400 from our old pkg price but I have no control as my agent scored free dining for us at my asking!!
My package is showing up as $1000 more than the exact same package priced at a comparable resort at it's level. I called Disney and of course they can not go into the resort ressie since it is through the agent but the cast member said that has to be wrong! She could see a couple of hundred difference but not over $1000. So email is into our agent. Who by the way I have used forever and love!
I am so frustrated right now. We did upgrade to regular dining & I know that ticket prices increased so both have that in the price. However the side by side costs of the two pkgs does not make sense.
So basically free dining cost me $1400 today!!!

 

[6loversofdisney]

Yeah I am trying to solve this same problem. Went up $1400 from our old pkg price but I have no control as my agent scored free dining for us at my asking!!
My package is showing up as $1000 more than the exact same package priced at a comparable resort at it's level. I called Disney and of course they can not go into the resort ressie since it is through the agent but the cast member said that has to be wrong! She could see a couple of hundred difference but not over $1000. So email is into our agent. Who by the way I have used forever and love!
I am so frustrated right now. We did upgrade to regular dining & I know that ticket prices increased so both have that in the price. However the side by side costs of the two pkgs does not make sense.
So basically free dining cost me $1400 today!!!

Keep pursuing this matter. This is not accurate at all. As someone who always books without an agent, I can assure you that when I've had a reservation or when I've looked into pricing, it is X amount of dollars. Once the free dining comes out and I've added it, there is no change at all!! I'm telling you, something is wrong. Free dining should not affect your previous pricing whatsoever.

 

[sharonabe]

(we are taking a child under 3 to make it 7 people but he technically doesn't count in Disney standards) this evening,

Just want to make sure you know: when it comes to making dining reservations that child under 3 absolutely DOES count. Whoever makes your ADRs must include the baby in the reservation number or they may not seat you. All your ADRs need to be for 7 people, not 6.

 

[sharonabe]

This year's dining package includes alcohol. If I use my daughter's credit (adult credit) to get myself some food, am I eligible to order alcohol for myself?

This will probably be hit or miss. If you're only ordering one meal and one alcoholic drink, no problem, but if you're ordering two meals and two alcoholic drinks, they may ask for IDs for both drinks and you'll need TWO adult IDs.

 

[leebee]

Did anyone get a Unique Offer Code today with Free Dining? Just wondering if the availability is better, meaning more resorts. It doesn't seem like it, but the website can be glitchy.

YES, I got the Unique Offer Code in today's (Wednesday's) email. However, when I click through to see if it's a good deal, it auto-fills the offer code then asks for my last name and zip code. Doesn't matter whether I use my last name or DH's (shared email); it just tells me that the information doesn't match and they won't show me the offer. All that money Disney spent on IT and it STILL stinks!!

Stayed up all night and thanks to some super helpful Dis folks I got exactly what I wanted! Need some advice on how to proceed though... So my question is: Does Disney know or care how I pay the balance of my reservation or was the manager just trying to have me use my DV card for something since everyone is required to use it for a deposit and I hadn’t? I have a number of other cards I would rather use and I’m wondering if it will matter if I use a different card. I’m leaning towards “no” but would love to hear other opinions.

You could just try to make a payment with a different card and see what happens. My guess is that they needed you to make the reservation/deposit with the Disney VISA so they know you qualify for the promo dates. If you are worried about losing the reservation, maybe wait until next week (when the FD hoopla dies down) and call Disney to ask about using a different card.

 

[catlady7]

Congrats to all that were able to get the free dining promo.
My daughter will be 10 years old when we go and will be charged as an adult when dining. For the non buffet table service, will they let us opt out her table service credit and just pay for a kids meal? I know she will not like the food from the regular menu and she can't eat that much. She only likes Mac and Cheese!!!! The kids meal are for 9 year olds...are they strict?

Yes 100% we have done that for years. My kids are 13 and 16 and they only want stuff of the kids menu. I pay for theirs separately and then I save their adult dining meals and then that way my husband and I eat at more of the 2 sit down credit dinners. Just tell your waiter or waitress when they ask if you are using the dining plan. That way they will split it up.

 

[DisneyGuy758]

Got the email last night. I jumped on my laptop and changed our reservation ASAP. Saved $1400.

 

[Annam3]

I just checked and some value resort reservations have opened up for November for those still looking.

 

[scard192]

This will probably be hit or miss. they may ask for IDs for both drinks and you'll need TWO adult IDs.

we always leave our IDs in the safe in the room. guess we will need to bring them to the parks next trip

 

[Liv4Dis]

So did everyone get what they wanted?

Yes we did. Thanks so much for your valuable information

 

[minniesBFF]

I'm so paranoid because it seemed so easy for me to get free dining, that I keep checking my reservation over and over just to make sure it's still there! I got the confirmation email so I don't know why I'm freaking out

I had a thought, and I don't know if this is accurate at all, but when I originally booked my package, I booked it BEFORE the ticket price increase in February. So maybe that is the reason for the $60 increase in my package price? I saw a couple other people say their packages increased by a similar amount. Again, that could be totally wrong, just an uneducated guess

I also wanted to add that I did NOT have the dining plan on my package before I got the FD offer added to my reservation. So who knows what caused the price increase lol. I'm just glad to be going to Disney with FD again!!

 

[MonsterMash75]

I'm so paranoid because it seemed so easy for me to get free dining, that I keep checking my reservation over and over just to make sure it's still there! I got the confirmation email so I don't know why I'm freaking out

I had a thought, and I don't know if this is accurate at all, but when I originally booked my package, I booked it BEFORE the ticket price increase in February. So maybe that is the reason for the $60 increase in my package price? I saw a couple other people say their packages increased by a similar amount. Again, that could be totally wrong, just an uneducated guess

I also wanted to add that I did NOT have the dining plan on my package before I got the FD offer added to my reservation. So who knows what caused the price increase lol. I'm just glad to be going to Disney with FD again!!

I am in the exact same boat. I pulled it up a few minutes ago to make sure it was on there! LOL Mine also went up like $70 per room, I did not have dining prior and I booked before ticket increases and parking fees. Weird, but I'm not going to quibble over it, just enjoy the warm cinnamon roll at Gaston's!

 

[SarahC97]

You hear so many people talk about this being the last year for free dining -- do you all think that's true? We're going for a weekend in August with the hope we'll be able to book a free dining bounceback for next year, so I hope they don't end free dining. I think it's more likely they'll just keep restricting the dates and resorts each year and slowly phase it out, but I don't see them getting rid of it totally for quite some time. Judging by the posts on these boards, it drums up so much business for them and is an incentive for so many people to come, why would they stop? I don't know, might be wishful thinking on my part because free dining just makes me feel like I'm getting a good deal, whether it's true or not! LOL

 

[scrappinginontario]

Thought of you. I tried to price out my September trip with FD, and was surprised it offered me Aug 2 on. Then when I clicked through on my dates it said I needed Canadian Credit Card and address. Then Disney sent an email stating my profile had changed and to call if it wasn't me. So I called, IT can't figure it out, said everything looks good .............. but told me to shut all down and reboot so we'll see. All I can see is it keeps changing my US English to Canadian English ... is it that different?

Yes, often the Canadian deals are different from the US deals. We normally get some extra days added to the FD offer. In this case we can book FD as of Aug 2 and opposed to Aug 20. The other difference though is that we pull from our own pool of rooms. A couple of years ago I was online and saw (in November booking for December FD) availability at Pop. I called an initially the CM said there was no availability but when I mentioned we were from Canada they did something and could see the same availability I was looking at and we were able to book! Not sure if we see 'only' Canadian availability or, Canada + US availability. Not sure about that part.

I think that's really strange that your price changed $50....I wonder what the explanation would be for that!? I have another reservation too for Dec. 8 and it includes the FD promo, but those are not my 1st choice of dates.
I'm planning on calling once the craziness dies down and see what they say. I'm expecting that Nov 28-Dec 6 are exemption dates, so the trip doesn't qualify.

I wonder if anyone has called about this issue.

When I looked under 'Special Offers' it showed that there was no availability at Pop at all. It was only when I attempted to 'change' my existing reservation that the 'offer' (lol - to pay more for what I already had!!!) showed up. I'm guessing they're hoping people won't realize what's happening and just click the purchase button. Didn't work for me but I'm guessing others did that thinking they were getting 'free dining!'

Does anyone know if there are typically RO offers that come out later on for December bookings? I only broke even with FD because of the 4 day park hopper tickets and it might be more beneficial to do RO and add on dining.

I've heard the end of year RO offer normally drops at some point in July.

Because flights out of the city where I live are very limited, I decided to add a night at POP before my vacation, giving me the opportunity to take the late flight out the day before I want to arrive. Booked it 2 days ago, no problem. With all the FD frenzy, I was pricing things out earlier to see if I could get a better deal (couldn't). What I saw was that, last time I checked, I could not get that single room at POP for one night as a RO, and that POP had been booked more than 3500 times in the last 24 hours! Meanwhile, ASMo, not part of the FD deal, had been booked about 300 times. Wow, this morning must have been just nuts!

The demand for Pop was CRAZY yesterday!!! I called and spoke with a CM last evening hoping to move my FD trip back 1 day. Nope, NA. She could have dropped a day off the end for me if I'd wished but when I looked online and she looked, there was not one single room available at Pop for the night of Dec 7th. Zip, zilch, nada. I could have gone to *** ports for night but we decided to keep the dates we have.

I think it was good for my 9yo to be in the room when I was attempting to make these changes and see how hard it was to do. She is missing a Christmas event we really hoped she would not need to miss but once she saw how hard I was working and the CM was working with me to try and make the change, she was appreciative of what we had and understood it was not easy to make changes. She thanked me after the call for trying to change our dates but that she now understood and was okay. I know there are many times I shield my DD from things in life but I think it's also good for them to sometimes see that life isn't always as we planned.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Couldn’t give up and just found Sports for most of our dates. (Nov 25th - Dec 4th rather than 7th) I’ll just do a room only for the last couple of days.

Woohoo!

Now to decide if we want to do our room only at Pop which means having to move or just stay at Sports the whole time.

If you haven't already booked Pop I would recommend booking ASAP. I tried booking a 1 night RO at Pop for Dec 7th and they were at 100% capacity. Not even a single room, any category to be had!

My sister and I kept trying and were just able to book POP FD 11/24-11/29. We had hoped to stay through 12/1. What are our best bets for extending our ressies?

All ideas are welcome. Thanks everyone! And pixie dust for those still trying!!

I would look for availability soon. Things are filling up.

I will be at Pop that same week, 2 standard rooms. Do you know if the renovations will be done by then ? It would be nice.

Please see this thread for Pop renovations. Post 2 lists historical dates of all the renovations. I don't anticipate that the renovations will be completed by September but they will be close.

 

[kpd6901]

So, my TA just informed me that there wasn't any more availability for AoA or Pop through Dec. 1, from our Nov.24 start of part 2 of split stay. She has a hold for us that she booked online for Nov 24-28, and hoping for additional info today to change. We also have our original ressie in place from Nov19-Dec1. Our 180-day is in about 3-4 weeks and shortly later is when SW flight window opens. So, that gives us a little bit of time for inventory to shift around. Hoping.

So a little update, my TA was just able to get my parents into Pop from Nov. 24-Nov.30 and my family into the AoA Cars till Nov. 29. Progress is being made as people change things. So for those still trying, keep trying (just don't take mine )! We just need someone to drop a couple more times to get us to Dec. 1. We don't really want a three-part split stay, but we're getting there. May the dust of pixies sprinkle upon you all!

 

[G719]

I'm so paranoid because it seemed so easy for me to get free dining, that I keep checking my reservation over and over just to make sure it's still there! I got the confirmation email so I don't know why I'm freaking out

I had a thought, and I don't know if this is accurate at all, but when I originally booked my package, I booked it BEFORE the ticket price increase in February. So maybe that is the reason for the $60 increase in my package price? I saw a couple other people say their packages increased by a similar amount. Again, that could be totally wrong, just an uneducated guess

I also wanted to add that I did NOT have the dining plan on my package before I got the FD offer added to my reservation. So who knows what caused the price increase lol. I'm just glad to be going to Disney with FD again!!

I am in the exact same boat. I pulled it up a few minutes ago to make sure it was on there! LOL Mine also went up like $70 per room, I did not have dining prior and I booked before ticket increases and parking fees. Weird, but I'm not going to quibble over it, just enjoy the warm cinnamon roll at Gaston's!

The increase is probably due to ticket increase. This is what usually happens.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Since you’re a pop expert, question about the lake view rooms. They look nice but I noticed of designated smoking areas along that pathway. Is that ever a problem? How bad is the walk from lake view to main dining hall? I’ve never been to pop before and looking forward to it but was really hoping for preferred room after the long long walks around the CSR pond.....

We have stayed at Pop many times and never been bothered by the smoke. Yes there are times when we walk by a smoking section that we can smell it for a few seconds but really it isn't a problem at all.

I know what I'm about to ask is a bit controversial, but please don't flame me. We will be staying at Sportd and have a just turned 3 year old who eats very little (she is in the 3rd percentile & wears 18 month clothing). Is it more economical for her to be 2 years old at the time if our trip, or be 3 years old? What I mean is, what has more value -- paying park admission with dining plan or paying no park admission with no dining plan? Which costs more, dining plan or park ads soon?

Regardless of size your child is 3yo. Do the right thing.

 

[scrappinginontario]

You hear so many people talk about this being the last year for free dining -- do you all think that's true? We're going for a weekend in August with the hope we'll be able to book a free dining bounceback for next year, so I hope they don't end free dining. I think it's more likely they'll just keep restricting the dates and resorts each year and slowly phase it out, but I don't see them getting rid of it totally for quite some time. Judging by the posts on these boards, it drums up so much business for them and is an incentive for so many people to come, why would they stop? I don't know, might be wishful thinking on my part because free dining just makes me feel like I'm getting a good deal, whether it's true or not! LOL

I really don't know if it will be the end of FD or not but believe it could be. I also believe the BB that drops in August will tell us a lot about what we could hope for this time next year!